FIREXIT® Brand is the Only Formula of its Kind in Wire and Cable Industry ROLLING PRAIRIE, IN

“Without a doubt, we believe FIREXIT® compounds are the safest products available for cable designers and installers currently in the market for top of the line safety, lowest smoke, and competitively priced cable compounds,” says Jack O’Donnell, OTECH Corp. president, (www.otechcompounds.com).

With exceptional processability in standard extrusion equipment used for PVC, FIREXIT® compounds are quality performance and improved-­‐cost alternatives to some fluoropolymers. Innovative formulations include: lead and bromine free solutions; enhanced low smoke, fire-­‐resistant materials optimized for use as optical fiber buffer compounds, thin wall insulation and jackets. These formulations can be customized to be sunlight resistant.

“We want to help improve the safety of any building where wire and cable is concerned,” adds O’Donnell. “When creating FIREXIT we made safety the top criteria – it’s not just about passing a safety test to us.”

As an innovative compound technology manufacturer, “We continually look for ways to improve the market and we realized these ‘enhanced low smoke’ compounds just weren’t available, so we created them,” says Jason Page, Vice President of Operations at OTECH Corp.

The newly needed compounds were created as a result of OTECH’s continual commitment to innovation and the company’s mission to develop the undevelopable for the wire and cable industry.

True to OTECH’s name, each newly developed compound is tested and re-­‐tested to ensure that these each meet our company’s stringent requirements.

OTECH Corp. releases two custom polypropylene/EDPM compounds

PUBLISHED ON MARCH 6, 2014

ROLLING PRAIRIE, Ind.—Thermoplastic compounder OTECH Corp. has released two custom polypropylene/EDPM compounds that can be used in various industries.

Jason Page, vice president of operations at OTECH, said the compounds can be utilized in many markets, including automotive, injection molding, profile extruders and others.

“This will go globally across the board for anyone who wants to use it,” he said. “We’re branching it out into the wire and cable market as well.”

Rolling Prairie-based OTECH, founded by current CEO Jack O’Donnell in 1999, traditionally works as a PVC compounder, but it is expanding its capabilities with different polymers, such as polypropylene, polyethanol, styrene-based and EVA compounds.

Page said the company is growing at a rate of anywhere from 10 to 20 percent each year.

Consumer demand drove the decision to add PP products to the firm’s portfolio, he said.

“We initially got a request from a customer, and we tried to come up with a solution for them to a problem they were having,” Page said.

“We have a lot of customers that ask us for various items, and we’re there to provide solutions.”

He said PVC has some limitations to both high and low temperatures, so the company decided to go with the PP/EPDM polymer instead for the custom compound.

Page said a PVC compound can be used at 136°C continuously, and for the most part, it withstands temperatures of -20° to -40° regularly.

“When you go outside of that, the other polymer bases offer you a lot more,” he said. “EPDM and propylene sort of fit that bill” because it has a broader range of temperatures, and “you can use them for both high and low temperature applications,” a requirement the compound needed.

The compound also withstands stress and high-speed conditions, ideal for truck trailer wind skirts. Page said the wind skirting material has a higher durometer, but it also can withstand a higher temperature, in the range of 150-170°.

On the flip side, the compound also can handle temperatures in the -170° to -180° range, too.

“The tractor trailer is going to go into temperatures that may be really, really cold,” Page said. “Plus it’s moving at 65-70 miles per hour, so it needs to have some of that flexibility at low temperatures.”

It might also be used in such places as Arizona that could reach 110°F, so the wind skirt is going to get hotter than that, he said, “and it needs that flexibility as well at those temperatures.

“PVC may not meet it,” he said. “That’s why we’ve gone some of these avenues and gone into some of these other polymers.”

The second product is a wire-reinforced ductile hose material designed for under-the-hood applications.

Page said temperatures are extremely high under the hood, so OTECH wanted to develop a product that can be used there.

“It meets a pretty stringent set of testing,” he said.

OTECH also has released new products in other arenas, such as a series of zero-halogen wire and cable products. Page said the company does a lot of work in the footwear industry for non-vinyl products.

OTECH recently came out with a new custom compound for floor mats that are in a different segment of the industry and a different polymer set.

The floor mats are of a styrene-based compound.

Page said OTECH has been working on adding things to the mats to make sure the products have “a very good structure at the end use.”

OTECH aims to create the solutions customers need in custom mixing. “It really is never ending. OTECH really strives to be an innovator,” according to the executive.

He added that OTECH wants to “develop the undevelopable” and “to make sure we provide a solution to people that have either not looked elsewhere, or have looked elsewhere and have fallen on deaf ears.”

“We have new opportunities and demands from our clients to increase our production,” says OTECH Corporation president Jack O’Donnell. “It was a perfect time for our team to bring on this new technology.”

“Eight new hires have been brought on this month to help create a variety of TPR, TPE, TPO compounds for the footwear, housewares, and wire and cable industries,” O’Donnell states.

This new twin-screw line brings OTECH Corporation capacity up an additional 15 million pounds a year.

OTECH Corporation manufacturers flexible PVC, PVC alloys, TPR, TPE, TPO compounds to wire and cable manufacturers as well as to the footwear industry and profile extrusion and custom molding markets around the world. All compounds are available directly from the corporate headquarters in northwest Indiana.

“The company staff,” O’Donnell said, “has more than a century of combined experience in product development, production, quality control and sales.” O’Donnell adds, “This level of experience ensures that all of our clients will receive high quality, industry compliant products at very competitive prices with unmatched service.”

OTECH Corp. Announces Newly Approved Custom Compounds

PUBLISHED ON February 20, 2014

New Compounds Join their Large Custom Auto Solutions Line

ROLLING PRAIRIE, IN – Innovative compound technology manufacturer OTECH Corporation of Rolling Prairie, Ind. (www.otechcompounds.com) has added two new, custom PP/EPDM compounds to their family of custom auto solution products. Both are now available commercially.

The first, a custom compound used in the manufacturing of truck trailer wind skirts, features superior low temperature properties (-90 degree brittle temperature) as well as improved performance in long-term, high temperature exposure. This custom blend makes a wind skirt that is ideal for long haul-rigs, regardless of temperature extremes.
The structural stability of OTECH’s new compound ensures longevity of the product even under stressing, high-speed conditions.

For many automotive and trucking companies rushing to comply with new state wind skirt laws, this new oil and abrasion resistant compound arrives just in time.

In addition to the wind-skirting compound, OTECH Corporation has also released an approved wire-reinforced ductile hose compound, designed specifically for the automotive industry for under-hood applications. With this compound, OTECH has added a component of processibility.

These compounds are produced with ease of manufacturing in mind. OTECH’s unique low-shear screw design uses a secret combination of melt flow and lubricants to create these specialized compounds quickly and with exceptional quality. Special attention was paid to ensure the compounds provide manufacturers with higher output at lower temperatures.

A workout saved his life

PUBLISHED ON August 01, 2013

Two years ago, Jack O’Donnell carried nearly 260 pounds on his 5-foot-9-inch frame, gulped down fistfuls of medications and injected himself daily with 150 units of insulin to manage his diabetes. read more

OTECH Corp. adds extruder, grows in elastomers

PUBLISHED ON November 1, 2013

Thermoplastic compounder OTECH Corp. is boosting capacity with a new 70-millimeter twin-screw extruder that will allow the Rolling Prairie, Ind.-based manufacturer to expand further into the elastomers arena and offer more flame-retardant olefins.read more

OTECH CORP pushes into elastomer market with twin-screw extruder

PUBLISHED ON NOVEMBER 7, 2013

Thermoplastic compounder OTECH Corp. is boosting capacity with a new 70-millimeter twin-screw extruder that will allow the Rolling Prairie-based manufacturer to expand further into the elastomers arena and offer more flame-retardant olefins.

Founded in 1999 by its president, Jack O’Donnell, OTECH Corp. has grown every year, selling predominantly flexible PVC materials to the electrical wire and cable, footwear, housewares, roofing, agricultural parts and automotive industries.read more

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